(IDEX Online) - A jewelry store worker fired gunshots after two raiders armed with hammers started smashing display cases.Nobody was hurt in the attempted robbery at Gold Estate Jewelry in downtown Palm Springs, California, USA.Palm Springs Police Department said it was initially unclear who had fired the shots, but they were later able to confirm it was an employee. They are still investigating t...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 21 points in pre-opening trade. Palo Alto gained $25.34 to $235.02 after reporting higher than consensus quarterly results. Hecla Mining dropped $0.14 to $4.44 following a mine shaft collapse at its Lucky Friday mine in Idaho.XPeng advanced $0.78 to $15.76 after Bank of America upgraded the stock from Hold to Buy. ...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Pandora is rolling out its lab grown diamond jewelry to Australia, Mexico and Brazil, and renaming its collections to acknowledge their origin.Diamonds by Pandora will now be known as Pandora Lab-Grown Diamonds, the company said in a news release.The Danish brand, best known for its charm bracelets, announced in May 2021 that it would no longer use mined diamonds, even though they...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Alrosa's diamond sales have been unaffected by sanctions, according to the company's first published set of financial results since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.First-half sales for 2023 were RUB 188.2 billion ($1.9 bn), up 0.2% from RUB 187.8bn ($1.9 bn), for H1 of 2022, and up 3.5 per cent on H1 of 2021. Net profit for H1 2023 was down 35 per cent year-on-yea...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Banks have frozen accounts belonging to dozens of diamond manufacturers and traders in India.No clear reason has been provided, although one news report mentions a police probe into alleged cyber-fraud.Police forces in the southern states of Telangana and and Kerala ordered banks to suspend 27 accounts of jewelry businesses based in Surat, the country's diamond polishing capit...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 29 points at 8:30 AM EDT.Applied Materials gained $2.41 to $140.00 after reporting higher than consensus fiscal third quarter results. The company also offered positive fourth quarter guidance. Ross Stores added $6.13 to 119.19 after reporting higher than consensus second quarter results. The company also offered posi...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Grizzly Mining says its latest emerald auction raised $48.63m, a record high since the company was founded in 1997.The market for emeralds remains "extremely strong", it said, after a sealed-bid auction for its mid-high grade rough emeralds held in Dubai during the first week of August.Grizzly produces around 60m carats of emeralds and beryl a year from its 100 per cent-owned mine...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Pandora has reported a five per cent growth in Q2 sales, despite ongoing macroeconomic uncertainties. The Danish jeweler says strong brands and products helped it deliver "robust growth" and it had expanded its network by four per cent.Revenue for the quarter was $864m (DK 5.894bn). Overall like-for-like growth was two per cent, although it was minus four per cent in the US.Pa...Read More
Equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 10 points at 8:35 AM EDTIndex futures were unchanged following release of the August Philly Fed Index at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus was a further drop to -13.5 from -10.0 in July. Actual was an increase of 12.0.Walmart added $2.61 to $161.87 after reporting higher than consensus second quarter earnings.Cisco gained $1.56 to $54...Read More
(Updates prices) By Eric Onstad LONDON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Copper prices held aboveseven-week lows on Wednesday as arbitrage buying offered supportwhile zinc dropped to its weakest in two months after a surge ininventories. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange(LME) was down 0.3% at $8,174.45 per tonne by 1630 GMT, bouncingafter re-testing the seven-week low of $8,148.50 touched in thep...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Former South African president Jacob Zuma has been ordered to repay a donation made by diamond dealer Louis Liebenberg to fund his legal team.Liebenberg reportedly gave Zuma (pictured) almost $170,000 (R3.2m) towards private prosecutions against journalist Karyn Maughan, state advocate Billy Downer and current president Cyril Ramaphosa. after confidential medical records were leake...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A lab grown brand in South Korea is offering customers the option to trade up to a mined diamond - and get a full refund, minus tax."If a customer who purchased a lab-grown diamond from us later wishes to buy a natural diamond of the same grade and size, we guarantee 100 per cent of the price excluding value-added tax," an spokesman for Alod told the Maeil business newspaper....Read More
(IDEX Online) - Watches of Switzerland (WoS) has reported a 10 per cent hike in revenue from its US operation - but an 8 per cent drop in the UK and Europe.Revenue across its 202 showrooms dipped slightly during Q1 2024 (to 31 July 2023), down 1 per cent to $485m at constant currency rates.The UK-based business said demand for luxury watches remained robust and continued to exceed supply.But it sa...Read More
Equity index futures were mixed this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 1 point at 8:35 AM EDT.Index futures were unchanged following release of the July U.S. Housing Starts report at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus was an increase of 1.450 million units versus 1.414 million units in June. Actual was 1.452 million unitsH&R Block gained $1.85 to $37.20 after reporting higher than consensus fiscal fo...Read More
(Updates prices as of 1618 GMT) By Polina Devitt LONDON, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Prices for copper and otherbase metals fell in London on Tuesday, as the outlook for demandfrom top consumer China worsened after data showed slowingindustrial output growth and falling property investment. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME)was down 1.2% at $8,191.5 a metric ton at 1618 GMT aftertouching...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Eira Thomas is to step down as president and CEO of Lucara, the Vancouver-based diamond mining company she co-founded in 2007.She will be replaced by William Lamb, who served as CEO from 2011 to 2018, until Thomas's appointment.Lucara said she'd been integral to the success and development of its Karowe mine, in Botswana, which last week announced the recovery of its four...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Pandora has appointed Ashley Park, star of the Netflix show Emily in Paris, as its latest global brand ambassador."I remember the first Pandora bracelet I received and cherished from one of my early birthdays," said US actress Park, 32.She appears in the newly-released film Joy Ride has been on the Broadway stage in productions of Mamma Mia, Mean Girls and The King and I.Park follo...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Mountain Province saw revenue from the Gahcho Kue mine, in Canada, slide by 41 per cent during Q2, down from $76m to $44.6m (all figures are US dollars).The Toronto-based miner, a 49 per cent joint venture partner with De Beers, said the quarterly figures were skewed because it held three sales in Q1, rather the normal two.Average price carat dipped slightly from $130 in Q2 2...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A jewelry store owner admitted failing to declare cash transactions over $10,000, after selling items to an undercover federal agent posing as a heroin dealer.Junaid "Jay" Sahibzada, 37, faces up to five years in federal prison without parole, said the U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Missouri. Sentencing will take place later.Sahibzada, of Lenexa, Kansas, co-owns G...Read More
Equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 30 points at 8:35 AM EDT.Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of economic news at 8:30 AM EDT:Consensus for the August Empire State Manufacturing Survey was a drop of 0.75 versus a gain of 1.10 in July. Actual was a drop of 19.0. Consensus for U.S. July Retail Sales was an increase of 0.4% versus a gain...Read More